NEWS:

Researchers at The University of Chicago have demonstrated that the type of bacteria living in the gut can influence the development of Alzheimer's disease symptoms in mice. The study, which will be published May 16 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that, by altering the gut microbiome, long-term antibiotic treatment reduces inflammation and slows the growth of amyloid plaques in the brains of male mice, though the same treatment has no effect on female animals.

The community of bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal tract--the gut microbiome--is generally harmless, but, because they affect the activity of the body's immune system, these bacteria can influence a wide range of diseases, even in distant tissues such as the brain.

"Recent evidence suggests that intestinal bacteria could play a major role in various neurological conditions including autism spectrum disorde

Feeling Healthy: A Good Start, But Not Always A Good Indicator Of Heart Disease Risk

Most people feel they have a general idea of how healthy they are based on their diet and exercise regimen and how often they get sick. But a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers adds to evidence that how healthy people think they are isn’t always an accurate indicator of their risk for cardiovascular disease.

In a study of medical information gathered on more than 6,800 people in the United States, the researchers found that 10% of those who rated themselves in excellent health had measurable evidence of cardiovascular disease without symptoms, putting them at higher risk for a heart attack or stroke.

The better news from their analysis, the researchers say, is that when combined with definitive risk tools, such as coronary artery calcium scans to determine plaque buildup in the heart’s arteries, self-reported perceptions of health do have value and can complement these too

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Center say they have affirmed widespread inconsistencies in the use of a common laboratory procedure called immunohistochemical staining, and say the variations are making many laboratory experiments unreliable.

Their findings were outlined in a special issue of the Asian Journal of Urology.

In a review of papers published about the process and describing the use of antibodies for diagnostic and research applications in biomedical sciences, the investigators set out to document variations in the way scientists practice immunohistochemical (IHC staining).

“Overall, in our experience as journal editors and manuscript reviewers carefully reviewing at least 1,000 manuscripts we estimate, at a minimum, half of them contained potentially incorrect IHC staining results due to lack of best practice antibody validation,” says Angelo De Marzo, M.D., Ph.D.,

Like A Lot Of Things, Women’s Gut Microbiomes Appear To Mature Earlier Than Men’s

The human gut microbiome is a complex microbial ecosystem that plays an important role in our health. For example, these microbes — bacteria, viruses, fungi — help regulate metabolism, fend off infections, produce essential vitamins and break down dietary fiber. They may also be biomarkers of health and disease.

A recent study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego State University and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology found that the age and sex of an individual strongly influences the bacterial diversity of the gut microbiome.

The study, published online May 14, 2019 in mSystems, found younger age is positively associated with gut bacterial diversity in both men and women, but young women display greater biodiversity than young men.

“It is well known that the microbiome changes from childhood to adulthood. We wanted to l

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